Woman pleads for trying to sell daughter for sexual contact

A Warren woman and Lincoln Park man recently pleaded no contest for their roles in the woman offering her 4-year-old daughter to the man for sexual contact.

Jennifer M. Brys, 25, and Edward C. Reardon, 26, both entered pleas earlier this month in front of Judge Mark Switalski in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens. They pleaded to the original charges of child sexually abusive activity and using the Internet to commit a crime. Each charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Brys is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 15 and Reardon on Jan. 8, both before Switalski.

The no-contest plea is treated as a guilty plea for sentencing and provides the defendants with some legal protection in civil court.

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The defendants’ attorneys could not be reached for comment this week.

Law enforcement officials say Brys placed a prostitution advertisement on Backpage.com in September and was contacted by Reardon. Through text messages, Reardon offered to pay her $300 but eventually indicated he was interested in having inappropriate contact, including showering, with Brys’ daughter, police said. He was willing to pay between $300 and $500, officials said.

Brys sent a photograph of her clothed daughter to Reardon, police said.

The allegations came to light after the 4-year-old girl’s father, Aaron Perry, found text messages on Brys’ phone the day before a meeting between Brys and Reardon was to take place, police said. Perry contacted police, and the pair was arrested in October.

At the time of text-message exchanges, the FBI was investigating Reardon for making arrangements to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl in Omaha, Neb., to engage in sexual activity, according to Macomb prosecutors. The teenager was actually an FBI agent.

Brys, who lived in the area of Eight Mile Road and Van Dyke and previously resided in Hamtramck, has no other children. She had nearly earned a college degree and has no prior record, her attorney, Christine Grand, said after a court appearance.

Brys and Reardon were in custody in the county jail each in lieu of a $500,000 bond, cash or surety.